Goa BJP leader defends using party cadre for government scheme implementation

Panaji, July 13 (IANS) A ruling BJP official in Goa defended the use of party cadre for organizing government events for public distribution of free LED bulbs, saying government servants alone would not have been able to manage.

Addressing a press conference at the party’s state headquarters in Panaji, state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) general secretary Sadanand Shet Tanavde also rejected allegations made by the opposition, about a scam in the implementation of the central government’s Jyotirmaya Ujala scheme under whose aegis, three 9 watt LED bulbs are being distributed free to each one of the five lakh households through nearly 150 pubic meetings in the state.

“Government servants alone would not have been able to deliver the scheme… Government servants have limitations. Party workers do not work as per nine to five timings. They have made this scheme a success. They have not been given any money to do it,” Tanavde.

Earlier on Wednesday, independent opposition legislators, Vijai Sardesai Rohan Khaunte and Naresh Sawal, had alleged that the Goa government had been misleading the general public about the price of the bulbs and that the LED bulbs were being given free in order to benefit a private LED bulb manufacturer.

“This is a clear scam. The actual price of the bulbs is much less than what is being stated by the government… The mass production of bulbs by a private company, to be distributed free is an election gimmick and aimed at helping the manufacturer,” Sardesai said

The BJP has denied the charge.

“The bulbs have been purchased by the central government at a heavy discount and provided to the state government which is only in charge of distributing it to the people of Goa to encourage power-saving,” state BJP president Vinay Tendulkar said.